Uber CEO Travis Kalanick Quits Trump’s Business Advisory Council

February 4, 2017

Uber CEO Travis Kalanick has quit President Donald Trump’s business leaders’ forum, according to an internal memo obtained by The Associated Press.

Kalanick wrote that he’d spoken with Trump Thursday and “let him know that I would not be able to participate on his economic council. Joining the group was not meant to be an endorsement of the President or his agenda but unfortunately it has been misinterpreted to be exactly that.”

The ride-sharing company has been buffeted all week by boycott campaigns that began when people perceived it as trying to break a taxi strike at New York’s JFK Airport. The strike was inspired by Trump’s executive order temporarily suspending the country’s refugee program.

Kalanick subsequently condemned the executive order and has contributed to relief groups, but calls for a boycott have continued.

Many Twitter users, including some in Hollywood who helped to spread the #DeleteUber hashtag over the weekend, took to Twitter on Thursday to applaud Kalanick’s move.